The Woodhouse ward [#28 on the map] of Sheffield-—which includes the district of Woodhouse and most of Handsworth—is one of the 28 electoral wards in City of Sheffield, England. It is located in the southeastern part of the city and covers an area of 7 km2. The population of this ward in the 2001 UK census was 17,900 people in 7,800 households.

Woodhouse is a former farming and coal-mining village, now a suburb and housing estate. The old Cross Daggers public house, the base of the village market cross and the stocks can be seen in the centre of the suburb. Many other old cottages, including a wattle and daub house dating from the fifteenth century, were demolished in the 1960s as part of a major redevelopment.

This farming village was, until the advent of coal mining in the area, relatively free of any kind of modern post industrial revolution influence. The population was invariably engaged in either small-scale farming or farming-related sub-industries such as early retail and tanning. Most of the architecture associated with this era has been lost but, luckily, a few reminders survive. Manor Farm Cottage, at the heart of the village, is a sympathetically restored old building and a reminder of Woodhouse's long lost past.

The advent of coal mining attracted an influx of young men and families wishing to capitalise on the various local mining ventures. Woodhouse grew quickly into a mining community with the opening of a number of mines within commuting distance. The village expanded considerably to accommodate the pit workers. Spa Lane, Back Lane and Sheffield Road quickly wound a new and expansive network of pit houses, ensuring that Woodhouse would become a 'pit village'.

"WOODHOUSE, a village in Handsworth parish, [West Riding of] Yorkshire; 1 mile W by S of [Woodhouse] Junction [railway] station, and 4½ ESE of Sheffield. It has a post-office under Sheffield, three dissenting chapels, a national school, and saw-mills; and it does much business in connexion with neighbouring collieries."